Caladium Cottage

Rangoon Creeper vine

2009-07-02T18:39:00.004-05:00

It's blazing hot here in Houston, but this vine in a neighbor's backyard has been blooming happily. It's called a Rangoon Creeper. The flower sprays are lovely and what a frangrace! It'll definitely be on my plant purchase list next spring. I have a vision of this vine draped over the aforementioned arbor, pictured a couple of posts below....

Kid painting project worthy of framing.....

2009-06-28T09:31:00.004-05:00

This blog will be pretty unthemed....I tend to go through old online albums and find pictures to comment on. Most of my photos are garden related, so it will be more of a challenge to find and comment on pics that aren't. Here is one from a two-year-old Webshots album. I got this idea from a magazine I think. The idea was to have available a copy of a picture by a "real artist", then have a child make a copy of it. Then frame the results and hang side by side. I had a copy of a Miro poster (blue background), and had my two grandchildren---- ages 11 and 8 then---- copy the poster. Haley, the 8-year-old, painted hers with a pink background, Kyle, age 11 then, painted a brown background. I'm thinking of trying this idea again if I can get the kids to go along with it......

Arbor as focal point......

2009-06-27T07:36:00.005-05:00

I had an expanse in the corner of the backyard that needed something in the way of a focal point. I noticed a large arbor set up at Sam's Club back in April and decided that it might fill the bill in that area. I bought it boxed, then came the challenge of screwing it together out on the patio. I dragged it over to the bed and set it upright and started placing container plants and baskets under, around, and on it. The arbor works as a focal point in that corner of the yard and acts as something of a frame that I can arrange plants around. The pots of white impatiens are beginning to go somewhat dormant in the summer heat and not blooming as well, so I might change those out soon for some more heat and sun tolerant plants.....

Why Caladium Cottage?

2009-06-26T08:05:00.002-05:00

Why Caladium Cottage? I do like caladiums planted about the house every summer, and I've had great luck with those tubers I've purchased from Sam's Club. $10 for a box of 50. They are planted in April here in Houston, and do well in semi-shade with plenty of water. There are many varieties, but my favorite is called "Carolyn Wharton". I've got them planted in front and back, with a particularly nice stand of them in the front yard circling a big bed of aspidistra, or cast iron plant, as it is sometimes called.......

Ross stores

2009-06-25T09:01:00.003-05:00

I've been offline a few days. The old cable modem died. When the Comcast repairman came yesterday, he said the old one was practically "an antique". Good to have internet access again.

Here's a plug for Ross stores. A friend advised me to check it out for cute knick knacks at very good prices. Well I did yesterday, and got a number of items. The glass jar pictured below, on the back of "the commode" picks up the orange in the Picasso print I had framed a few years ago and is a nice hit of color (as the design people on TV say). I think it was like $3.95 at Ross.

2009-06-19T08:27:00.002-05:00

My grandson, Kyle, and I went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science this past Monday when he was visiting from Austin. It's a beautifully mounted exhibit and well worth a visit.

Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor was named one of the top five "must see" exhibitions by Time Magazine.

On to another topic.....

2009-06-18T14:02:00.003-05:00

These are my three grandchildren, and like all doting grandmas, I think they are just the best. Kyle is 13, Haley is 10, and our wonderful "bonus baby", Luke, is now 8 months. Olivia, Haley's best friend, was visiting when I took the photo. Haley is the blond child.

2009-06-17T13:11:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of more mosaic efforts in addition to the hydrangea one mentioned in an earlier blog and which is part of this grouping. I don't have this particular grouping anymore, and have no idea what I did with the hydrangea one. I finally got my fill of dealing with this somewhat messy craft, though I still have loads of stained glass in various colors in case I decide to start up again one of these days.....

2009-06-17T12:54:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid just a few years ago, I used to visit my grandmother and aunt each summer in east Texas. Usually my grandmother's hydrangea hedge was in full bloom by the time I arrived. I lived in El Paso, TX. Hydrangeas didn't grow in that desert climate, so I was fascinated with these blue beauties growing in front of my grandmother's front porch. Due to this early hydrangea imprinting, I have always had a thing for them and have them planted somewhat obsessivly all over my backyard. They dry beautifully, and I have a number of dried blossoms in various arrangments in my front rooms. They are drying on the bush as I write this post.....

2009-06-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

I took a stained glass class over at NHCC several summers ago. After making a couple of stained glass pieces, I had a lot of leftover stained glass, so moved on to mosaics, using terra cotta saucers. This is a hydrangea. I am pleased with it, but not so happy with the border. It's been over a year since I worked with this. A good hobby for awhile.

2008-04-20T14:58:00.000-05:00

Sunday, 4/20/2008

I have been working on Cathy's birthday quilt today. I figure at least ten or 15 more hours to go on the hand quilting. Beautiful spring day. We had our semi-annual used book sale yesterday at BB and did pretty well. Our Friends group is "the best" and we all work well together. I read about a summer camp for kids held at NHCC this summer and e-mailed Cathy about it for the kids. They offer three sessions this summer, two weeks per session. Maybe too long for Kyle, and certainly for Haley.

I had planned on going to Walmart, but decided to put it off until tomorrow since it will be so crowded on a Sunday.